Maysonet, Blum, Geary, Rodriguez tidbits and more

If Humberto Quintero had been injured after replacing Ivan Rodriguez Monday, Edwin Maysonet would have caught.

Maysonet is the Astros’ emergency catcher although he has never caught in the minors or majors.

“I’ve caught bullpens in spring training and Triple-A,” Maysonet said. “The only thing I’d have problems with is that I don’t know the pitchers and what pitches they like to throw. I need to know the pitchers.”

“Dewey told me to start catching a few bullpens so I can get used to it, because one never knows what will happen,” Maysonet said.

• • •

Although he exited after the first inning with a sprained left knee Monday afternoon, Ivan Rodriguez expects to be in the starting lineup Tuesday for the second game of the three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds.

Rodriguez felt a pop when Adam Rosales scored on Aaron Harang’s RBI single to center, giving the Reds a 5-2 lead in the first inning of the 8-5 victory over the Astros at Great American Ball Park.

“I just felt a little pop in my left knee,” Rodriguez said. “I could have continued playing, but (Cecil) Cooper didn’t want to take any chances. But I’m good. I got some treatment already. For sure I’ll be playing tomorrow.”

Rosales never made contact at the plate with Rodriguez.

“I just got caught in the wrong place,” he said. “I went down and my knee was in the wrong way. I went to tag him and my left knee got stuck. I felt a little pop on the inside of my left knee in the back.”

• • •

Aaron Harang stunned the Astros by returning for the final out of the fifth after a rain delay of two hours, three minutes. After throwing 4 2/3 innings, the delay was called with two outs and the count 1-0 on Hunter Pence in the fifth.

During the delay, Harang threw four simulated innings at about 50-60 percent at the indoor batting cage during the delay.

“I get really surprised,” said Humberto Quintero, who struck out to end the fifth. “We think the pitcher warming up in the pen was the guy that was going to come out. When I see him I was surprised. I tell Hunter, ‘Hey, Hunter, Harang’s coming back.’ He said, ‘that’s fine.’

“I’ve never seen it before, never. For that long? No. Maybe 20 minutes, 10 minutes, something like that. But not for that long. I think he wanted to finish the game, finish the fifth inning.”

• • •

Brandon Backe has made it clear he’s healthy and ready to pitch, and Monday morning he was still eagerly waiting for Cecil Cooper to let him know whether he’ll start or relief and when he’ll be put in the rotation.

“We have not decided yet (on Backe),” Cooper said. “We got to decide, but we haven’t decided. We know he’s going to be activated at some point this trip, but we’re not certain if it’s starting or relieving. We don’t know. We haven’t decided.”

The biggest variables under consideration are the three starters at the back end of the rotation and how those three would succeed if they were put in the bullpen.

“We have five other guys in the rotation,” Cooper said. “We have to figure out who to take out. So that’s the variables right there. Those are the variables.”

So is Backe going into the rotation?

“We don’t know that,” Cooper said. “He could be a bullpen guy. He could be a starter. We don’t know who’s better suited to go to the bullpen. We don’t have a lot of options.”

• • •

A day after exiting with a strained left hamstring, Geoff Blum was unavailable Monday against the Cincinnati Reds.

Blum, however, felt “better than I thought I would,” he said Monday. “It just feels tight today and hopefully tomorrow it will feel better.”

If all goes well, Blum might be able to serve as a pinch hitter Tuesday.

“In a perfect world, yeah,” he said about pinch hitting Tuesday. “We’ll have to wait and see. Today I’ll pretty much shut it down.”

Cecil Cooper is expecting not to have Blum to pinch hit until late in the series, at the earliest.

“They just said day-to-day. I’m going to go the other end of it because he’s a guy that usually doesn’t come up lame or stuff like that,” Cooper said. “So I don’t know quite how to treat it, so I’m going to treat him like I’m not going to have him. If he pinch hits or whatever something late in the series, that would probably be the way I see it.”

• • •

Jeff Keppinger started Monday at first base, and it appears as though he will get all the starts at third base until Geoff Blum is healthy enough to return.

“Probably just Kep,” Cecil Cooper said.

• • •

It appears as though Humberto Quintero will be the personal catcher for righthander Felipe Paulino and Mike Hampton as long as those men are in the rotation. Quintero has caught two of Hampton’s last three starts. Ivan Rodriguez will catch the other starters.

“It’s just kind of been a day-game kind of deal or him catching Hampton pretty much,” Cecil Cooper said when asked how he decided whom Quintero would catch. “Now he probably will get Paulino, it looks like, maybe. That’s kind of how I’m going to do it.

“So Pudge will probably play today and tomorrow. Q will probably catch (Paulino on) Wednesday. Depending on who starts Friday, it probably will be Pudge. If we decide to bring back Wandy (on regular rest Saturday) and keep him on five and keep Roy on five, then it’s Pudge catching (Saturday and Sunday).”

• • •

Geoff Geary threw a 20-pitch bullpen for the first time since landing on the disabled list with tendinitis in his right biceps.

“We’ll see what the angle does to the old arm,” he said.

Geary will be eligible to come off of the DL on Friday, but it’s too early to tell if that will be possible.

“There’s always a chance to come off,” he said. “I don’t know yet. We have to go day-to-day. You can’t jump in the last day of a DL stint.”

• • •

Roy Oswalt (1-2, 4.47 ERA) hopes to turn his luck around Tuesday against the Cincinnati Reds, a team that he’s 23-1 lifetime against.

As an example of how frustrating this season has been for Oswalt, he is 0-0 over two starts against Cincinnati this season even though he has a 0.69 ERA against the Reds this year. RHP Micah Owings (3-5, 4.70 ERA) will start for Cincinnati.

• • •

By the numbers: 21. Lance Berkman’s home run in the first inning was the 21st of his career at Great American Ball Park, the most by an opponent here.

• • •

Odds and ends: Carlos Lee’s triple to left-center field in the first inning was his first triple since he hit one June 18, 2007 against the Los Angeles Angels.

Tejada has looked great so far, a lot of people are expecting a crash like last year. But you only have to go back 2 years to see production very similar to what he is doing now so there is no reason to “expect” him to not continue to produce. Having said that, with the Rays losing Iwamura and needing middle infield help, and the stros having so few pitching prospects…is Tejada for Wade Davis realistic?